The Great Air Race

In the wake of the First World War, many Australian aviators leaving military service in Europe expressed the desire to fly home instead of travelling by sea. Recognising an opportunity to stimulate aviation development, in 1919 the Commonwealth Government announced a prize of £10,000 for the first Australian to fly from England to Australia in 30 days or less.

All the entrants were First World War veterans. Among them were brothers Ross and Keith Smith, with mechanics James Bennett and Wally Shiers. Keith had served with the Royal Flying Corps but didn’t see active service. Ross served mainly with No.1 Squadron, Australian Flying Corps. He was twice decorated with the Military Cross and three times with the Distinguished Flying Cross.

The Smith brothers and their crew converted a Vickers Vimy, a former British heavy bomber, for the race. A plane of the same type had also been used for the first non-stop crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in June 1919. The Smith’s plane was marked G-EAOU, which was rumoured to have stood for "God 'elp all of us".

The Smith Brothers took off on the morning of 12 November 1919 at around 8am from the snow-covered Hounslow aerodrome. The six entrants staggered their departure with each planning a differing route from Europe through the Middle East to India, then through Indo-China to Indonesia and on to Australia.

On their long journey the competitors endured all kinds of dangers and setbacks, including adverse weather and sleep deprivation. For the Smith brothers and crew, a stopover in the Indonesian city of Surabaya was particularly eventful.  When their aircraft got terribly bogged, locals from a nearby village dismantled their bamboo huts, laying down the walls as a makeshift runway. 

On 10 December 1919 the Vickers Vimy was sighted approaching Australia by sailors aboard the HMAS Sydney, 100 miles from Darwin. Upon seeing the ship, the Smith Brothers and crew dropped a message in a bottle which was collected by the ship’s crew. It said “Very glad to see you. Many thanks for looking after us. Going strong.”

At 4.12pm on Wednesday 10 December 1919 the Vickers Vimy successfully came in to land at Fannie Bay in Darwin, flying on to Melbourne to win the race. The total journey took 135 flying hours over 28 days. The Smith brothers and their crew had made aviation history making the first flight from England to Australia.

The Smith Brothers and their crew were greeted by almost the entire population of Darwin. Among them was the Northern Territory Administrator, Staniforth Smith, and Lieutenant Hudson Fysh, who went on to found Qantas in the following year.

While the Smith brothers and their crew met with victory, only one of the other five competing aircraft reached Australia. The Airco DH.9 completed the journey eight months after the Vickers Vimy and became the first single-engine aircraft to fly from England to Australia. Tragically, the remaining four aircraft crashed, with two crews killed

On 27 February 1920, Ross Smith received the prize of £10,000 on behalf of himself and his crew from Prime Minister Billy Hughes at Parliament House in Melbourne. The Vickers Vimy was then flown to Adelaide and is now on display at Adelaide Airport.

In January 1920, Ross and Keith Smith were awarded knighthoods by King George V. Mechanics Wally Shiers and James Bennett received Air Force promotions. Sir Ross Smith and James Bennett died just two years later testing a Vickers Viking in England. Smith received a state funeral and is buried in Adelaide.

In March 1923, a memorial was erected in Darwin by the Commonwealth of Australia to commemorate the pioneering flight by Ross and Keith Smith. It is located near the spot where the plane first landed on Australian soil.